


Raise You

by SingManyFaces



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, Fluff, Force Ghosts, Gen, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-01-13
Packaged: 2021-02-27 12:22:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 657
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22237042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SingManyFaces/pseuds/SingManyFaces
Summary: Kylo finds himself at a crossroads after being healed by Rey, and gets some support from his grandfather.
Relationships: Anakin Skywalker & Ben Solo
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67





	Raise You

**Author's Note:**

> My take on Kylo working out his alignment, this time with a Force Ghost helping instead of a memory. Dedicated to my partner, who encouraged this.

He stared into the raging ocean, not for the first time seeing himself reflected in such a scene. The murky depths held his attention fast and he felt almost incapable of looking away...until he felt it. The presence.

Long ago, at his uncle’s school, they’d been taught about this, the bare details anyway. That it was possible to commune with past Jedi, that some especially powerful members of the fallen Order could even appear bodily after their deaths to offer guidance. Less than an hour before, he’d heard his mother’s voice, felt her pass into the Force—there was little doubt in his mind just what the presence was.

“You’re too late,” he muttered without turning, his voice holding only a fraction of his former conviction, “Your son is dead.”

“Oh, I’ve heard that one before,” came a knowing male voice. It was a voice he had never heard before, and Kylo whipped around at the sound of it. The translucent blue figure stood tall and shrugged one shoulder, his mouth tipping up in a small, regretful smile. “Used to say something similar myself fairly often.”

“Who—” But Kylo stopped himself before he got the question out. Looking now at the man before him, he could see it so clearly—his uncle’s eyes, his mother’s smile—and he knew. “...Grandfather?”

“Ben.” The name, and the gentleness of his expression, were like a punch to the gut and Kylo’s breath hitched painfully in his chest. “I’ve waited so long to be able to talk to you.” Anakin Skywalker hugged him then, and his arms felt so solid that for a moment Kylo thought he might lift him off the ground.

Breathing was getting harder again.

“I thought,” the words came, stilted, with difficulty, “for years, I thought—“

“I know.” The embrace tightened, just for a second, and then Anakin stepped back. “Being tricked by Palpatine is,” his mouth twisted into a pained line, “something _else_ I’m familiar with.” He reached out to touch Kylo’s face like he was something treasured, and his expression brightened a fraction. “But now the shroud keeping us from you is finally gone.”

It was all so much, all at once. Confused, Kylo asked, “What do you mean?”

There was so much of his uncle in Anakin’s grave expression—no, the reverse, Kylo corrected himself dimly as the apparition spoke. “Palpatine used the Dark to cloud the Force,” his brows knit in rueful annoyance, “Another specialty of his. Because of that we couldn’t reach you, no matter how we tried.”

“But now?” He almost didn’t want to blink, as transfixed by the form in front of him now as he had been by the waves. “What’s changed?”

The smile he received was so kind; he’d never imagined the former Darth Vader could possess one like it. “She opened a way.” Anakin’s hand skimmed over his stomach, gentle as a Chandrilan spring breeze through the hole in his shirt. “Will you take it, Ben?”

His throat worked painfully. “I don’t know if I have the strength.” He had done such terrible things, and for so long...

“There’s always time to change your path, Ben,” Anakin spoke as if reading his mind, his voice heavy with experience, “ _Always_.” And then he was wrapped in another embrace, surrounded by warmth, and Light, and as his eyes pressed closed it almost felt like there was more than one pair of arms wrapped around him. When it ended, Anakin’s hands framed his face as if to steady him. “You know what you have to do, Ben,” he told him, holding his gaze, “Will you?”

Fear and doubt closed his throat around the words but he knew the choice he _wanted_ to make; when he nodded he received that gentle smile, so like his mother’s, again. Finally taking his gaze from the spirit, Ben gave one last look at his saber before turning to throw it into the ocean.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! You can find me on tumblr @singmanyfaces if you want to drop by. :D


End file.
